Lebanese authorities have detained Mohammad Khalil, the brother of Amal Movement MP and former Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, as part of an ongoing investigation into a counterfeit drug trafficking network involving falsified medications, including drugs intended for cancer treatment.

Khalil was arrested alongside a captain in the Internal Security Forces, identified as Ali Sh., and two pharmaceutical dealers. All four were taken into custody at the Financial Crimes Bureau, according to details first reported by local broadcaster Al Jadeed.

The suspects were interrogated for several hours throughout the day under mounting pressure from various parties to secure their release. However, the detention orders were issued following instructions from acting Financial Prosecutor Judge Dora El Khazen, who is overseeing the case.

According to judicial sources cited by Al-Modon, the case, now under active investigation by the Financial Crimes and Money Laundering Bureau, has the potential to implicate numerous individuals, including high-ranking security officials. According to early findings, authorities are also pursuing the alleged ringleader, Maria Fawaz — the wife of Mohammad Khalil — who has reportedly fled the country. The report accused Fawaz of defrauding a group of businessmen of over $30 million through suspicious pharmaceutical deals and smuggling the counterfeit products via the Beirut airport.

Additionally, authorities have sealed a pharmacy in Beirut’s southern suburbs with red wax, further expanding the crackdown.

Later on Wednesday, Ali Hassan Khalil, who also serves as the political aide to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, issued a statement distancing himself from the legal case involving his brother and the latter’s ex-wife. Khalil called for the judiciary to carry out its duties free from political interference and denounced what he described as intentional efforts to implicate him in the matter.

In a post on his official X account, Khalil emphasized that the issue is a private legal matter strictly between the two parties involved and that he has no connection to the case.

“This is a judicial matter that concerns only my brother and his former spouse,” Khalil wrote. “We are in no way involved, neither directly nor indirectly, in what is being circulated. We have no professional or personal relationship with the individuals in question and firmly reject any attempt to link our name to this case.”

The senior Amal Movement official emphasized that the judicial process should be allowed to unfold independently and transparently. He called on judicial authorities to take firm, impartial action and dismissed any claims of political pressure as baseless.

“We urge that the legal process take its natural course, with strict judicial measures and rulings made without any form of pressure or influence,” he said. “Any suggestion that we are exerting pressure on the judiciary is entirely false and part of a smear campaign aimed at creating confusion and discrediting us for motives that are no longer concealed from the public.”